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Button-hole to Byzantines Button-hole To button-hole a person. To bore one with conversation. The French have the same locution:
Serrer le bouton [á quel qu'un]. He went about button-holing and boring everyone.- H. Kingsley: Mathilde.To take one down a button- hole. To take one down a peg; to lower one's conceit. Better mind yerselves, or I'll take ye down a button-hole lower.- Mrs. B. Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin, iv. Button-hole (A). A flower inserted in the button-hole of a coat. In fine weather he [the driver of a hansom] will sport a button-hole- generally a dahlia, or some flower of that ilk.- Nineteenth Century (March, 1893, p. 473). Buy in (To). To collect stock by purchase; to withhold the sale of something offered at auction, because the bidding has not reached the reserve price. Buy Off (To). To give a person money to drop a claim or put an end to contention, or to throw up a partnership. Buy Out (To). To redeem or ransom. Not being able to buy out his life ...Buy Over (To). To induce one by a bribe to renounce his claim; to gain over by bribery. To buy over a person's head. To outbid another. Buy Up (To). To purchase stock to such an amount as to obtain a virtual monopoly, and thus command the market; to make a corner, as to buy up corn, etc. Buying a Pig in a Poke (See Pig , etc.) Buzfuz (Serjeant). A driving, chaffing, masculine bar orator, who twists Chops and Tomato Sauce into a declaration of love. (Dickens: Pickwick Papers.) Buzz Empty the bottle. A corruption of bouse (to drink). In bousing a bout `twas his gift to excel(See Boozy.) Buzz (A). A rumour, a whispered report. Yes, that, on every dream,Buzzard (The) is meant for Dr. Burnett, whose figure was lusty. The noble Buzzard ever pleased me best.Buzzard called hawk by courtesy. It is a euphemism- a brevet rank- a complimentary title. Of small renown, 'tis true; for, not to lie,Between hawk and buzzard. Not quite a lady or gentleman, nor quite a servant. Applied to tutors in private houses, bear-leaders, and other grown-up persons who are allowed to come down to dessert, but not to be guests at the dinner-table. By Meaning against. I know nothing by myself, yet am I not thereby justified. (1 Cor. iv. 4.) By-and-by now means a little time hence, but when the Bible was translated it meant instantly. When persecution ariseth ... by-and-by he is offended (Matt. xiii. 21); rendered in Mark iv. 17 by the word immediately. Our presently means in a little time hence, but in French présentement means now, directly. |
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